S.Amdt. 116

SA 116. Mr. COONS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 2 proposed by Ms. Murkowski (for herself, Mr. Hoeven, Mr.
Barrasso, Mr. Risch, Mr. Lee, Mr. Flake, Mr. Daines, Mr. Manchin, Mr.
Cassidy, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Portman, Mr. Alexander, and Mrs. Capito) to
the bill S. 1, to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline; which was ordered
to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ENERGY POLICIES.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) energy is central to a strong, diverse, and vibrant
economy;
(2) the United States has benefitted greatly from abundant
supplies of a range of energy resources throughout the
history of the United States;
(3) the United States will continue to prosper by ensuring
that balanced pathways are in place to develop energy
resources that are clean, reliable, affordable, and secure;
(4) the United States must continue to transition to a
lower carbon energy future;
(5) the United States should address that climate change is
real and caused by human activities;
(6) climate change is already impacting the United States
with sea level rise, ocean acidification, and more frequent
and intense extreme weather events such as droughts, floods,
wildfires, and heat waves;
(7) the United States has a responsibility to children and
future generations of the United States to mitigate the
harmful effects of climate change while producing and using
ever-cleaner forms of energy from all sources;
(8) solutions that address the energy and climate
challenges of the United States and the world must involve
developed and developing nations around the world;
(9) there is no 1 pathway to address the challenges of
climate change, but rather, different approaches must be
employed to meet these challenges;
(10) energy policy approaches must take into account the
reductions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide,
methane and superpollutants, such as hydrofluorocarbons;
(11) a first beneficial step toward an improved energy
policy is the establishment and implementation of a national
Quadrennial Energy Review;
(12) investing in the development of innovative clean and
renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies will
enhance global leadership and competitiveness of the United
States and can create and sustain short and long term job
growth;
(13) breakthrough technology development requires more than
simply investing in research and development, it requires
bridging the lab-to-market gap with a variety of public
private partnerships ranging from STEM education through
workforce training to support for innovative business
investment;
(14) effective clean energy innovation policy requires
support throughout the entire innovation pipeline from basic
research to early market transformation;
(15) economy-wide, regional and sectorial approaches have
been demonstrated and are proving that reductions in
emissions can be made while still growing the economy and
providing high-paying jobs;
(16) the energy challenges of the United States can be
addressed with smart responses which include--
(A) curbing emissions from the transportation sector;
(B) reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants;
(C) strengthening the infrastructure of the United States
to be more resilient to climate change;
(D) encouraging the use of clean energy through tax cuts,
credits, and deductions;
(E) reducing emissions of short-lived climate forcers;
(F) significantly improving energy efficiency solutions;
(G) investing in research, development, and demonstration;
(H) making the electric grid smarter and more reliable;
(I) improving land management planning;
(J) ensuring that a smart regulatory system is in place;
and
(K) addressing the energy-water nexus challenges;
(17) responsible action requires putting a price on carbon
and both mobilizing action domestically and negotiating
bilateral and multilateral agreements to strengthen and spur
international action; and
(18) the longer the United States waits, the more severe
and costly the impacts of climate change will be, and the
harder it will be for children of the United States to
address this crisis.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the United States should act responsibly to develop
bipartisan energy policies that lead to a lower carbon
future.
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